Knock, knock, Devendro here

Devendro Singh’s second-round knockdown of Scottish Aqeel Ahmed in the light fly quarterfinals of Commonwealth Games will stay etched in the minds of all those who were present at Glasgow’s Exhibition Centre, for very long. It wasn’t just the ferocious flurry that he unleashed with his speedy combinations leading upto that moment where a halfway-hard left uppercut sent the home challenger stuttering backwards, and smack down on his bum. It was Devendro’s immediate reaction after that: he walked away regally from the scene of his destruction, clinically even, to stand apart and coolly view the partisan crowd that had now hushed up.

Sensing the inevitable, they could only grimace with their boxer as he copped more of the same gust of punching, and waited for the squall to end in the next few minutes, and an unanimous decision to end the agony. It must’ve felt like keeping track of the three blades of the ceiling fan as they pick up speed, and giving up, as Ahmed did handing Devendro an assured bronze, as the Manipuri led India’s fightback after a string of losses on Tuesday.

“Every boxer wants to end the bout early, and that second round punch was me trying to finish things off,” he said later, adding he was happy he’d picked his first CWG medal, but was very focussed on winning the big

Devendro had rendered a taller opponent utterly helpless, and at Glasgow, it needed a commanding, crystal-clear sort of domination to negate the home

advantage that boxers from “Home Nations” as they call them — Wales, Northern Ireland, England and Scotland — enjoy.

Manoj, Sumit lose

In fact it was two Manipuri boxers who led India’s fightback a night after the likes of Manoj Kumar and Sumit Sangwan — the latter in what was immensely suspect decisioning after he looked clearly on top — had lost. Sangwan can feel hard done by because his tactical ploy of long-range boxing seemed to be working with the economical punches, but it was looking grim after six boxers lost in two days — including women’s Pooja Rani, decimated by an English opponent

Devi impressive

It was left to the senior-most women’s boxer – Sarita Devi Laishram, in fact, to register the first win for India against a Home Nations boxer, two hours before Devendro.

With her back against the wall and trailing in the first round — though coach Hemlata and Gurbax sandhu didn’t tell her that — against Welsh opponent Charlene Jones, Sarita Devi effected the most stunning turn-around, again in Round 2, when she changed gears in a heart-beat and launched an offensive that left the judges with no option but to hand her a 2-1 win on points (115-113).

Round 1 had seen the Welsh girl — nine years Sarita Devi’s junior — narrowly ahead. But Sarita Devi launched a feral counter-attack, starting from one end of the ring, where continued…